Sheeted labels are conventionally sold in retail outlets in one of two forms.
In a first form a plurality of individual sheets, with each sheet carrying one or more labels, are collected and sold as a group of individual sheets in a clear flexible container such as a clear poly bag. Very frequently the bag includes a header card to which the poly bag is stapled and from which the poly bag depends. The header card serves the multiple functions of (a) forming a closure for the poly bag containing the sheets of labels, (b) a display space to identify and advertise the product and disclose its cost, and (c) a means for suspending the bagged products from a display member, such as a prong or hook which projects outwardly from a peg board or other support structure.
In a second form a plurality of individual sheets, with each sheet carrying one or more labels, are formed into a stack and placed on a backer card, the backer card almost invariably being heavier and thicker than the label sheets. The stack of label sheets is then shrink wrapped to the backer card to form a unitary package. The backer card invariably projects upwardly beyond the top of the stacked label sheets to, again, function as (a) a part of the closure, or position maintenance, of the individual label sheets, (b) a display space to identify and advertise the product and disclose its cost, and (c) a means for suspending the shrink wrapped products from a display member, such as a hook, or alternatively, stacking the individual packages in an upright, generally vertical position if the packages are to be displayed on a flat surface such as a shelf
Although both forms of packaging have been widely used, each has certain drawbacks which prevent the system from being considered the ideal, or near ideal, display system.
In the first, or poly bag, form a vertical display space which is considerably higher than the height of the label sheets is required due to the vertical height of the header card and the additional space required to gather the front and back sides of the poly bag preparatory to bringing them together in a flat condition prior to being stapled or otherwise secured to the bottom of the header card. Further, the header card system requires two components in addition to the collected and stacked label sheets, namely the header card and the poly bag. On top of the raw cost of the two additional system components there is an additional cost of assembly and shipping, since the header card requires assembly time and space additional to the space of the group of collected label sheets. Further, the attachment of a poly bag package to a support structure, such as a prong or hook extending outwardly from a peg board, is more difficult and cumbersome by a human operator due to the floppiness of the unit. And once assembled, the poly bag, no matter how clearly transparent it may be, compromises the appearance of the contained product to some extent, and possibly to a significant extent, if the poly bag material only loosely contains the label sheets; folds and creases may be present which tend to distort the appearance of the contents and/or create a lack of definition of indicia on the product resulting from the use of bagging material which is not fully transparent. Indeed, cloudy bagging material may transmit a utilitarian or low quality appearance to the eye of the potential purchaser.
In the second, or shrink wrap, form a vertical display space which is considerably higher than the height of the label sheets is required due to the projection of the top of the backer card above the top of the collected label sheets since the backer card must provide a free, flat surface to which the shrink wrap can be adhered. Further, the shrink wrap system requires two components in addition to the collected and stacked label sheets, namely the backer card and the shrink wrap. On top of the raw cost of the two additional system components there is an additional cost of assembly and shipping, since the backer card requires assembly time and space in addition to the space of the group of collected cards; indeed the additional space requirements are usually greater than the additional space required in the poly bag system, which is usually floppy in final structure, due to the rigidity of the backer card. The thick backer card, together with the enclosing layer of shrink wrap material also requires more space in a stacked direction. Once assembled, the shrink wrap material may compromise the appearance of the contained product to some extent due to lack of definition of indicia on the product resulting from use of shrink wrap material which is not fully transparent.
It will also be appreciated that in both of the above described forms of the conventional product the manufacture of the label sheets is compromised in that the individual label sheets must be manufactured separately from pre-cut, individual pieces of stock, or, if manufactured in a continuous system, each label sheet requires a separate cutting operation--which obviously compromises high speed production.
Accordingly, there is a need for a label system, and packages of labels, in which the labels may be manufactured in a near continuous process, no supplementary packaging components are required, shipping space is needed only for the labels themselves (i.e.: no extraneous space for packaging/display components) and the final impression to the eye of a potential purchaser is maximized by the absence of any material extraneous to the labels.